Susan C. Piedmont-Palladino, RA

B.A., William & Mary

M.Arch, Virginia Tech

Susan Piedmont-Palladino is an architect, professor, and Director of the Virginia Tech Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC). As Director, Susan is committed to design education that is international, interdisciplinary, and individually focused. The WAAC’s long-standing pedagogy of freedom and responsibility aims to develop each student into a reflective citizen design professional.

She is also a consulting curator at the National Building Museum and the author of several books, including companion books for exhibitions and initiatives she has curated, such as Green Community, Intelligent Cities, and Timber City. Most recently, she served as co-curator for Justice is Beauty: The Work of MASS Design Group, currently on view. Her last book, How Drawings Work: A User-Friendly Theory, published by Routledge in 2019, takes a fresh and unconventional look at graphic communications.

A graduate of Virginia Tech and the College of William and Mary, she has lectured on American urbanism, sustainability, and current issues in design to public, professional, and academic audiences in the US, Europe, and Latin America. She has served on several architect selection committees and numerous design awards juries. She was awarded the inaugural Vision in Design Award from the Branch Museum of Architecture, and the Washington Architecture Foundation’s John Wiebenson Award for work dedicated to the public interest.

spalla@vt.edu